Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 

The Best Make-Ahead Recipe from Cooks Illustrated is yet to fail me. These muffins are no exception. They are delicious, filling and have a variety of flavor variations which I am VERY excited to try out. Lemon poppy seed has always been a favorite flavor combination of mine, so I think these will probably remain the winner for me.

Aside from tasting wonderful, they are phenomenal because these babies cook straight from the freezer! When I don't feel like cooking breakfast and doing dishes all morning, these are a godsend. I can roll out of bed, turn on the oven, put some frozen batter balls into muffin tins and, what do you know, you've got breakfast.

Amazing.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

makes 18 muffins

3 cups flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 ½ Tbs. poppy seeds

1 ½ Tbs. grated lemon zest

10 Tbs. (1 ¼ sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups plain whole milk yogurt

Line muffin tins with 18 paper liners, set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds and lemon zest (be careful that the zest does not clump when mixing), set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until very pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the whole milk yogurt. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins.

If you don’t plan on baking right away, tightly wrap muffin tin with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with PAM. Refrigerate up to 24 hours or freeze for up to one month. (Once frozen the batter balls can be transferred to a plastic freezer bag for storage).

To bake preheat oven to 375°. Unwrap muffins and bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes if refrigerated, 35-40 minutes if frozen.